A question often asked: “Is the blue fluorescence in this rock real?”. This is a pretty common question, or often a wrong conclusion made by many first starting out in our hobby. Our UV lights have UV bandpass filters (“filter” defined here for our purposes as UV transmitting, visible blocking) which block the visible light…
At the Rochester Mineralogical Symposium in 2022 Madeline Murchland gave a very nice presentation about fluorescence spectroscopy and zoning in apatite. Here is a recording of her talk.
Dennis Michaels (from our Fluorescent Minerals Facebook group) attended his first Ultraviolation show in Oct 2021. He took some amazing photos which really illustrate what this shindig is all about. Every rock is fluorescent. The room is filled with dealer and...
Everybody is familiar with mineral specimens that fluoresce two or more colors under shortwave UV light. Just think about a classical red-and-green calcite and willemite from Franklin. But are there similar multicolor specimens under longwave?? Mark challenged the...
This article was originally published by Stefano Buzzoni on Nature's Rainbow.To produce crystals at home is an interesting experiment and if they fluoresce, could be “magic”. Furthermore, it’s easy and cheap. The only ingredient you have to use in big quantity is...
Rick Kennedy surprised most folks in the FMS Fluorescent Mineral Group (FB) by posting pics of this magnificent cluster of carpathite crystals. Carpathite (karpatite) is a very rare hydrocarbon mineral first described in 1955. In California it appears as a low...
This article was originally published by Stefano Buzzoni on Nature's Rainbow.This kind of fluorite was well described by Robbins (1984). “...This material is opaque, and greenish or gray in daylight. Under long wave, the fluorescence is violet. Under short wave, the...
Some comments from our Facebook Group: JB: Worth noting: if you want to try this at home, they have to be Wint-o-green lifesavers, not pep-o-mint. The oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) is fluorescent, and the sugar breaking produces UV light, causing the methyl...